Family
05/10/2011

The Rocks in My Life

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My Rocks

I pontificated about rocks, water and sand this week in the Blue Ocean Ideas Weekly Idea.

I thought I’d share at least a few of the rocks in my life that I have tried to place before the sand and water.

Rocks in My Life

  • I take each of my kids out to breakfast ever Friday morning while they are in middle school. I’ve found this time to be invaluable for me and for my kids in creating a meaningful relationship during what can be turbulent middle school years.
  • Elise and I try to get out to dinner alone as often as we can. We love the meals out together and always have a great time. Our lives are hectic so 2 hours away from everything where we can be together feels like a mini vacation to me.
  • I read, study, and pray for 1 hour a day. During the week this is usually from 7-8am. On the weekend it’s generally a little later.
  • I keep my email inbox at close to 0 and my todo lists up to date. While I may not always get done everything on my todo lists I at least stay current. If I’m not getting something done I at least know about it and am able to consciously manage what I am and am not getting to. The zero inbox principle has made my life much easier to manage even though it is hard work keeping it there.
  • At least a couple of times a month I get together with friends. Friendships are important to me and they don’t happen by accident.
  • I spend time with older adults being mentored and younger adults mentoring. I longed for this when I was younger and committed in my early 30′s to make sure I spend time in these relationships.
  • I workout at least 4-5 times a week. This is always hard to fit in but the truth is no one is ever fit by accident. It’s always intentional.

Things that I want to be rocks

  • I want to be more consistent in managing my team each week. I know I have more to offer than I am bringing that will benefit everyone. It is incredibly easy in my business to get caught up in the daily things that need to get done and neglect spending quality time with my staff.
  • I want to add a more deliberate strength training routine into my life. I know how important this is and know I would see benefits immediately. Right now I run or swim 3-4 times per week, play ultimate frisbee once, and play football once. All of that is great but I am lacking on the strength front.
  • I want to be more committed to budgeting and managing our finances well. Elise and I have recently committed to a new budget and so far it has gone well. This is an important rock that I want to make sure is placed in our lives first.

So my question for you is “What are some of the rocks in your life or that you want in your life?”

Keep moving forward,

Greg

04/30/2011

An Ideal Saturday

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An Ideal Saturday

Today was one of those perfect Saturdays. I got to spend a rare full Saturday with Seth (my youngest).

I had an early football game after which I picked him up.

Highlights:

  • Perfect weather
  • Painrelievers football game
  • Hopkins vs. Loyola Lax game with Aunt Carole & Uncle Dick
  • Seth lax game
  • Five Guys celebration dinner
  • Worshipping together at Grace

Days like today are gold for me.

What makes for your ideal Saturday?

05/25/2009

Childhood, Adulthood, and Everything in Between

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I’m sitting on the dock at the lake. My nine year old daughter, Riley, and my 6 year old son, Seth, are kayaking in front of me in the high grass where the earth and water meet each other. They splash each other and their cousin, Emmet, who paddles next to them. Its an idyllic moment.

In the meantime, at the end of the dock, there are another dozen kids readying to go on an adventure in a boat. They banter back and forth as they wait for another cousin to run down from the house and get on board.

On the south side of the dock, there are 6 kids dipping in the cool lake while the warm sun shines on them. They play king of the mountain on a tube and see who can push the others off. They splash incessantly and let out yelps of joy each time one of them falls in. They are innocent and uninhibited.

Time stands still.

The boat engine breaks the sound of the waves lapping against the dock. The teenage kids pull away from the dock slowly. They turn the boat with skill and disappear around the bend. With no adults to hold them back their adventure is underway.

Five minutes later the kayakers are in the water swimming off the end of the dock. They do cannonballs and belly flops laughing at the sheer joy of jumping into the water. Their friends are here with them and they could swim and play for hours without a care in the world. Every once in a while a shivering kid runs by on his way to or from the shore.

Time stands still.

The adults meander down to the dock and back. Sitting for a while and talking. Reading and soaking in rays of sun. Drinking tea or coke or sipping a glass of wine or beer. They stop for a light lunch of sandwiches and chips. Then return to the the dock or sit on a boat or relax in chairs by the shore.

We share smalltalk with our neighbors and enjoy the peaceful setting together. We are just being.

Earth, sun, water, clouds. People. All together for this moment. It’s just a moment.

Time stands still.

I flash back to first time my oldest child, Caleb, ever swam in this lake. It seems strangely like a lifetime ago and yet also like a blink of an eye. I remember my own first days swimming in the lake and exploring it’s depths. Wading in shallow water looking for fish or casting a rod toward a promising hole.

That does seem like a lifetime ago.

Time doesn’t stand still. It marches on and we march on with it. Maybe Elise and I will be sitting on this dock in 10 years watching our grandchildren tiptoe into the water.

But for now we just enjoy this moment without expectation. We have no hurry and no worry. We just let the moment be.

I finish writing and slip into the water myself. I swim well out into the lake. When I turn around. From the lake looking back I see all of the faces and bodies. Some have shaped my life, some lives I shape. Children, adults, and everything in between.

05/11/2009

Time, glass gems, and kids

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Jars on TableIn my consulting work, I often encourage visual people (you know who you are) to create images, symbols, or objects that represent something important to them and place them somewhere that they will clearly be on their mind often.

I was practicing a little preaching last week.

My oldest son, Caleb, will be driving on his own in just under a month. Teaching my oldest to drive and anticipating how quickly my time with him day to day is fading, I set up a tangible reminder of the time I have left with my kids. I bought 4 glass jars and filled each jar with a different color glass gem (Caleb – blue, Josh – orange, Riley – pink, and Seth – green). Each glass gem represents one week in their lives before they go to college. [yes I am assuming they will go to college...]caleb-with-jar2

Each week I take a gem out of each jar and throw it away in the trashcan. I was looking for a clear reminder for me about how short the time was that we have as a family.

The funny thing is that I am not afraid of the passage of time. I don’t sit around wishing that it would slow. I am happy for my children to move on to new and exciting areas of responsibility and ownership of their own lives. I don’t look at people with younger children and think, “I miss those days.”josh-and-gems3

At the same time I do like markers, placeholders, and things that force me to count things. In this, my one and only life, I won’t get time with my children back. I know on the other side of eternity I will have countless hours. On this side, my time is limited and finite. I want to make the most of every week.

Someday, Elise and I will be home alone wondering where days, weeks, months, and years went. I want to look back and realize we used the time as best we could. I am sure we will be thrown some loops and things that we won’t enjoy or expect. But I hope we will look back contented that we used the time well.riley-and-seth